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Finance Committee Fight over Valley Hi Taxes – Part 2

Yvonne Barnes presses for the correct wording to cut the Valley Hi levy and cut taxes at the same time, rather than re-allocating the “saved” money to another levy.

At this point Barnes weighed in.

“That’s concerns me,” she said.

“You don’t solve that $20 million problem by [lowering the levy].

“I disagree,” Barnes replied.

“If you’re going to be thinking about another facility,” Walkup said, “I think that the taxpayers should weigh in on it.

“If it wasn’t part of the original referendum, there should be a voter initiative.”

“I’m not arguing about reducing the levy to zero; [rather] $1-1.5 million.

Wheeler related what voters had told him as he campaigned for election last year.

“One of the major concerns was the [huge] amount of money Valley Hi had in reserve.”

Reflecting on his motion to cut $750,000, he said, “Valley Hi can get by with $2.25 million.”

Talking about borrowing, he suggested he didn’t favor using the money to finance a $5 million salt dome.

After Wheeler made his motion, McCann asked,

“How much do you think that would [give each] taxpayer?”

Wheeler retorted:

“It’s better than increasing.

“It’s not the dollar amount.

“It’s that they know we’re out there working for them.

“I’m not working with an ax, but with a chisel.

“Valley Hi’s not going to be negatively [affected].”

At this point Skala told the committee members that if money were taken out of the Valley Hi levy, “it would be put in another fund.

“We’re collecting the same amount of money.”

Then Skala started talking about “the rate.”

{He lost me here, because the County Clerk sets tax rates, not the County Board. The County Board sets the levy, that is, the amount to be requested from taxpayers. The County Clerk looks at the maximum that can be collected, then figures out the rate necessary from the assessed valuation available.]

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If you would like to call or email your county board members to express your views on whether they should levy the $3 millions or not, you can find their phone numbers and email addresses here.